Eric Holder says Snowden’s leak ‘ a public service’

Ex- attorney general says leaks provoked necessary debate

Fugitive former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden damaged U. S. interests but also performed a public service when he leaked national security documents in 2013, former U. S. attorney general Eric Holder said Monday.

In The Axe File podcast hosted by Democratic political operative David Axelrod and distributed by CNN, Holder said Snowden’s exposure of global surveillance programs, some operated by the NSA, was “inappropriate and illegal.” Holder said agents were put in jeopardy and relationships with nations were strained.

After Snowden’s revelations, federal courts ruled against the NSA’s mass collection of American phone records. Congress subsequently passed the USA Freedom Act, which limits the collection of such records.

“We can certainly argue about the way in which Snowden did what he did, but I think that he actually performed a public service by raising the debate that we engaged in and by the changes that we made,” Holder said.

Snowden, who fled to Hong Kong and lives in Russia, faces two counts of Espionage Act violations and one count of theft. He has said he would return to face those charges if he believed he would get a fair trial and would be allowed to use a “public interest” defense.

Holder, the first black U. S. attorney general, served from 2009 to 2015. He said Snowden should come back to face the consequences of his actions. “Go to trial, try to cut a deal. I think there has to be a consequence for what he has done,” Holder said. “But I think ... a judge could take into account the usefulness of having had that national debate.”

Snowden tweeted a hopeful response, noting the evolution of officials’ views of his actions: “2013: It’s treason! “2014: Maybe not, but it was reckless

“2015: Still, technically it was unlawful

“2016: It was a public service but

“2017: ”

“We can certainly argue about the way in which Snowden did what he did, but I think that he actually performed a public service by raising the debate that we engaged in and by the changes that we made.” Eric Holder, former U. S. attorney general

GETTY IMAGES Former U. S. attorney general Eric Holder says Edward Snowden should return to the USA and face the consequences of his actions.

AFP/ GETTY IMAGES Edward Snowden, then an American government contractor, in 2013 leaked classified information from the National Security Agency that exposed how the government monitors American citizens.